Lin's Story
by Angry Lobster
Summary: Was Lin also spirited away as a child? The story of a forbidden love that brought our favorite bathhouse employee into the spirit world. Don't worry there's still some ChihiroxHaku in there. This is my first Fanfic, so please review!
1. As Lin Remembers

Lin was shocked that she hadn't noticed it before. She couldn't see it until Haku lay dying in the boiler room, a bloody, unconscious dragon who had finally paid the price for his loyalty to Yubaba. As much as Lin pitied the joyless Haku, she was not particularly sad at seeing him go. To her, the boy was something of a traitor. He had willingly become Yubaba's apprentice so many years ago, and he had submitted to her evilest of whims ever since. He was simply not worth her energy.

Yet, as Haku gasped his dying breaths, little Chihiro had a fire about her. She was rushing about, trying to revive her fallen friend in any way possible. She had a light in her eyes, a determination that echoed in her words. Lin could finally see what she had been missing all of this time. Chihiro loved Haku. She loved him in a way that only a child can love, with all of her heart and all of her mind, without doubt and without condition. Watching Chihiro, Lin was astonished that this little girl could love so tremendously. The feeling filled the corners of the room like the warmth of the raging flames that powered the bathhouse.

Lin found herself surprisingly affected by their love. She had always been somewhat stolid when it came to matters of the heart, but this was different. She suddenly began to remember her own forgotten love, images flashing through her mind like a rushing train. It was as if all of her life before the bathhouse had been pinned behind a river dam, and seeing Chihiro's love for Haku had poked an unexpected hole in it. Lin stumbled backward as memories began to flood through her...

Reina was having a beautiful dream. She was soaring through the clouds, her arms outspread like wings and the cool wind whipping through her hair. A beautiful landscape flew by beneath her, a water world that was speckled with extravagant buildings and neat little cottages. Following a train, she allowed the winding tracks to lead her through this fairy world. She felt happy and carefree.

Feeling something pressing against her hand, Reina noticed that she was grasping a bit of paper. She slowed her flight to examine out the slightly tattered item, unfolding it delicately and smoothing it against her palm.

"Train tickets?" Reina said aloud in confusion. Why would she need train tickets if she could fly?

Just then, she noticed that there were two figures flying in the distance. It was a girl, maybe two years younger than Reina was, clinging to the back of a flowing blue dragon. Reina could see that the dragon's mouth was moving, perhaps trying to speak to her.

"Reina!" it said in a high-pitched, nasal voice. "REINA!"

Reina suddenly jerked awake, thrashing in her desk and sending several of her books flying. She turned red at the laughter of her classmates, and she slowly raised her eyes to meet the piercing gaze of Professor Sato, who had been calling her name. Reina had apparently dozed off during a painfully boring lecture on irregular verb tenses. Again. She braced herself for the wrath of Professor Sato, the school's disciplinarian grammar Nazi.

"Sleeping in class again, Miss Miyake. This is unacceptable…" Professor Sato began, but Reina didn't hear the rest.

She was too distracted with a piece of paper that was pressing against her hand.


	2. The Boy in the Rain

**Here's the second chapter of the Lin saga. I hope everyone enjoys! Remember to RxR--I really appreciate it!**

Reina walked briskly out of the front doors of the school and crossed the yard, pulling her sweater tightly around her. A damp, forceful wind was beginning to bend the trees into straining arcs, while the black sky threatened a storm. Reina shuddered. She didn't like the idea of walking all the way home in a thunderstorm, but all of the buses had left while Professor Sato was lecturing her for her "chronic unconsciousness" during class. She heaved a sigh, silently cursing her dope of a grammar teacher, and began her trek home.

As she trudged along the shaded gravel path, Reina thought about the dream that had stirred up this trouble. She had flown above that parallel water world many times before, had felt it calling to her in her dreams for over a year now. This, however, was the first time she had ever taken a souvenir back with her.

Reina pulled the reddish train tickets from her pocket and examined them once more. Certainly, these were the same tickets that she had clung to as she rode the wind in her dreams. She wondered if, one day, she would board the wandering train that she had followed on so many peaceful excursions. If so, this rumpled strip of tickets was the key. But how was it that she was holding them in her hands right now? It was only a dream, wasn't it?

Slowly making her way along the wooded path, Reina was about halfway home when the dark heavens finally opened up. She groaned. Being drenched to the bone was the last thing she needed today. She broke into a run, stuffing the train tickets back into her pocket to prevent them from getting wet. The cold rain began to turn into a downpour, and icy droplets touched every leaf and tree around her. Freezing and soaked, she ran on and on through the pattering rain.

Reina had paused at a small clearing, completely out of breath, when a figure arose from the raging torrent. He was a tall, dark boy; strikingly handsome as he stood engulfed in the intimate rainfall. Water ran down his back and shoulders, drenching his jagged black hair and giving him a semblance of sadness. Reina noticed that although he had the body of a boy, his eyes were a thousand years old. His were eyes that had seen serenity and darkness, joy and agony. Now, those dark eyes were locked with her own. Reina found herself enchanted.

Just then, several strikes of lightning cracked overhead, followed by waves of earsplitting thunder. Reina became suddenly frightened, as if torn from a dream. The sound of stricken trees toppling to the wet earth could be heard all around, like giants falling after being dealt their deathblows. Reina gasped as a great cracking sound erupted just behind her. A monstrous oak had just been struck with lightning, and it was plunging in her direction. She stood frozen in fear.

Yet, just as the collapsing tree was about to trample her, it stopped in mid-air and stood suspended just inches about her face. Reina turned around in wonder and surprise. The boy was standing behind her with his arm outstretched authoritatively and his hand looking as though it was grasping something. He had a look of concentration in his dark eyes, all of the sadness in his appearance replaced by intensity.

"_He's controlling the tree,_" Reina thought. "_And he's saved my life._"

With a wave of his hand, the tree veered to the right and landed gently on the wet earth beside her. He looked at the sky and whispered a foreign incantation, and the storm began to subside. Reina stood staring at the tall boy in awe. She wanted to thank him, but she could not find any words to say. She could feel an overwhelming connection between them, like two souls entwined in a single fate.

"Who are you? How did you do that?" Reina finally managed to say. Now that her motor skills seemed to have returned, she wasn't sure what to ask first.

The boy replied in a low voice, "I am Arashi." His eyes darted about suspiciously, as though he was expecting someone to ambush them from behind the waterlogged trees. "You shouldn't be out in this storm."

"I know, I know," Reina began to talk very quickly and nervously, "but I missed my bus because of my stupid professor—"

Arashi had walked over to her and grabbed her hand, halting her rambling abruptly. For a single moment, the two stood holding each other in the gusty drizzle, and time stood suspended as they stood on the edge of fate. Both knew they were destined to be together. At that one perfect second, Reina gave her whole heart to Arashi.

The moment was broken as the sky suddenly became dark again. Low, powerful thunder began to rumble against the blackening clouds, and the rain picked up once more. Reina could have sworn that, for one second, she saw a flash of fear in Arashi's eyes.

"I have to leave," Arashi said urgently. "Right now. You need to leave too."

Arashi let go of her hand and began to rush away.

"Wait!" Reina called. "When will I see you again?"

Arashi gave her a sorrowful look and said, "I must return to the spirit world."

He gazed at her for one second longer, worry and sorrow in his eyes, before morphing into a sweeping red dragon and fluttering off like the ribbon of a kite. He was a spirit of the storm, Reina realized, and he was returning to the world that she had visited in her dreams.

Reina pulled the train tickets from her pocket. She was going to follow him.

As Lin stood in the boiler room, suddenly remembering this crossroads in her life, she longingly wished that she had not followed.

**Currently working on the next bit. Thanks for reading! Until later! **

**--Angry Lobster**


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